Halloween

This is the eleventh and final (supposedly) installment of Michael Myers' reign of terror over Haddonfield, Illinois and Laurie Strode on Halloween night. Michael has been detained at Smith's Grove Sanitarium for four decades and hasn't spoken a word to anyone. He is set to be transferred to a new facility, but something goes horribly wrong. The bus ends up in a ditch, driver and transport crew all murdered, and Michael is on the loose. Laurie has been training and planning for this day to happen, and she won't stop until he's dead for good.

I'm not going to lie to you and say that I have watched all of the Halloween movies. I honestly don't think I ever watched any of them after the first one, and I'm not sure I even watched the first one in its entirety either. The first five movies came out before I was born so they were never on my must-see list. After seeing this new Halloween movie, however, I feel like I might go watch some of them. I enjoyed this movie. I wouldn't say I was drop-dead in love with it, but it was good. They even threw in some comedy, which I wasn't expecting to see in a horror film. Who knew I'd be laughing in a horror movie?!

I think that may be why I didn't love this one. It just wasn't super scary. I was creeped out for sure, but I only jumped one time. I've been to children's movies and jumped more times than that. I was looking for a dark, scary movie to get me in the Halloween spirit. I didn't get that. While I'm glad that this is the end of the Halloween franchise (eleven movies is far too many), I was expecting a bit more horror. 

The end was a little off-putting as well. I didn't feel satisfied with it. For forty years Michael didn't say a single word. No one knows why he murdered people or what made him so angry. Was it the mask? Was he just a messed up child? Did he really love Laurie but she wouldn't love him back? Who knows?! I liked the twist this movie had, but I was really hoping for some explanation or at least one word out of Michael.

One thing I really loved was Laurie's preparation and planning. She spent a lot of time training and building traps in order to protect herself and her family. The traps were brilliant and surprising to watch unfold. Jamie Lee Curtis did a fantastic job in this role. Andi Matichak, who played Laurie's granddaughter, Allyson, was good as well, but her character had a lot of "duh" moments. I guess the writers needed to keep that element of stupidity seen in all horror movies, and they decided she could pull them off brilliantly. Let's scream our head off in the middle of the street! Michael will never find us now...There were other characters that didn't seem to be completely relevant as well. Allyson's boyfriend for example. He's a big deal in the beginning, but then he just fades out and disappears. Did we need him? I don't think so.

IMDb says 7.3/10, Rotten Tomatoes says 76%, I'd say 6/10. Not bad, but not great either. Definitely kept to that classic 80's horror movie style, but in 2018 I'm expecting much more.